Summers are for ROAD TRIPS!!

Open Road through mountains

Road Trip!! My favorite two words to hear! I love a good road trip to anywhere and I am always game for one.

Then…

As a child growing up, my family did 100% of their travel by car. My parents were from Wisconsin and we lived in Arizona. Every summer we were taking a road trip somewhere. The excitement of it all! Packing the car, leaving in the middle of the night to avoid traffic, the snacks, and the Surprise Boxes that my mom used to make for us. We would always wake up around sunrise somewhere in New Mexico. What a flood of memories!

Now…

As an adult my husband and I have done 95% of our travel by car. We live in North Carolina and we have families in Wisconsin and Alabama. So no matter which side of the family we are visiting, we are in a car for 9+ hours. Kids today experience things a little differently in the digital age. T.V.’s in cars, iPad’s and other handheld devices entertain them in the car now. They miss so much when they are staring at screens and WE miss so much when we aren’t interacting with them.

When my kids were about 4 and 8 years old, we were taking a trip home to Wisconsin. I did NOT want their faces stuck on screens for the 15+ hours we would be driving. So, I created a Travel Binder. This was an old school binder with various games and activities to entertain them. I laminated the pages and used wet erase markers with them. I also included regular paper, and other things for them to draw with. They loved it! We played road games and passed the time interacting with each other instead of independently. My kids still remember the trip.

Surprise Boxes

Another thing I did was a different take on my mom’s Surprise Box. When we were kids my mother made us up a box of things to entertain us (books, toys, candy, etc.) and she would give it to us when we woke up in New Mexico. That year I did state line surprises. Each child received something similar in nature at the state line (box of their favorite candy, flip flops for the trip, small toy or travel game, you get the picture). I included a page of activities that related specifically to the state we were driving through. They LOVED this idea and it made them look forward to each state line.

Even now as my children are teens, they still want their state line surprises and their travel binders to help them pass the time. I guess its the nostalgia…

Travel Binder

I have now made My Super Fun Road Trip Binder available to you through Etsy, so you can start making fun memories of your own on your next road trip. (Not that you don’t already have fun memories, its a given when you are on a road trip.) Perhaps though, some new memories can be had. My Binder features 22 activity pages, ranging in age from PreK and up. The pages get more difficult about half way through. If you have kids of different ages, print the whole thing and divide age appropriate pages between two kids. If you only have one kid well the good news is that they will be able to use the activities as they grow.

Before you head over to Esty check out my freebies for a sample of one of the pages! I hope you have a blessed week and wonderful summer vacation!



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